


Thank You

by ParaNex1ble



Category: Original Work
Genre: Child Death, Fantasy, Magic, Original Character(s), Original Fiction, Spoilers, Symbolism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-05
Updated: 2018-11-05
Packaged: 2019-08-19 08:28:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16531010
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ParaNex1ble/pseuds/ParaNex1ble
Summary: This is a story dedicated to my cat, who passed away this morning. Watching her fight consistently through her final moments had a deep impact on me and I felt I needed to make something to honor her.Characters shown in this story are entirely original and belong to my in-progress novel titled Mirror's Realm.This story contains major spoilers for Mirror's Realm.---------------------Aiden witnesses a mother shink lose her child, and comes to appreciate the species as a whole.





	Thank You

**Author's Note:**

> Dedicated to and inspired by Kava, my 15 year old cat who passed away this morning.
> 
> May, 2003 - November 5th, 2018
> 
> May she rest in peace.

Aiden couldn’t help but note the small crowd of shinks that had formed nearby, bustling anxiously as they chittered in native tongue. He couldn’t help his curiosity as he made his way over to the small circle. Shinks took glances at him, but made no move to push him away.

In the center of the circle was a pair of shinks; A mother and child. The mother was knelt down next to the child, who lay weak and limp on it’s back. Aiden felt a stab through his chest as he realized what these shinks were so anxious over. 

The child was small, smaller than other young shinks Aiden had seen. It’s limbs were frail and sharp, disproportionate to the rest of it’s body. It was a runt, born misshapen, doomed to an early passing. But the mother, even in this moment, denied the reality heavily. She chirred and squeaked towards her young, as if begging for it to stand up and admit to it being a cruel joke. The child could only respond in soft chirps that barely made it to Aiden’s sharp ears. He could see how thick tears ran down the mothers cheeks under her mask, which was tilted to the side in a way she didn’t bother to fix.

In this moment, Aiden wished more than ever that he could fully understand the language of his kin, as he watched the way other shinks responded to the child’s words. He felt alien, as if he were watching animals speak to one another. Even the child itself seemed desperate to cling towards life; It’s tail lashing out and it’s joints twitching in attempt to pull itself away from the cold clutches of death.

Death.

Aiden had seen death. He was a war veteran, a rebel, he had watched friends and family clutch to wounded companions begging for medics to do anything that could save their loved one. But denial never saved lives. Aiden had watched those same individuals sob at gravestones, cursing the ancients who they blamed for their loss. It was part of life, to experience death. These shinks must have seen more than their fair share.

The mother was cradling her child, whispering soft notes to it. She was singing. Aiden had only heard shink’s music in the form of tribal drums and excited yelps and whistles. But this was much different. The tone of the mother’s voice was like silk, each lyric that rolled off her tongue was full of emotion, with clarity that could never be matched by any artificially written song. Aiden couldn’t understand any of her words, but he felt every bit of meaning. The child’s body calmed as it was soothed by the mother’s voice, the labored breaths became soft and relaxed. Out of context it may seem that the child was merely falling asleep, but Aiden knew better.

At the end of her song, the mother finally let go of her pride and began to sob into her now deceased child’s chest. Aiden couldn’t help it, he felt his own tears begin to fall. The other shinks surrounding the pair had bowed their heads, as if praying silently to their ancient. Aiden felt a tug in his chest, he couldn’t stand idly by.

His feet moved on their own, and soon he was kneeling next to the mother shink. She slowly looked up at him, instinctively tightening her grip on the child’s body. Aiden sighed and pulled his mask up, letting it rest between his horns. He didn’t know exactly what he was doing, but something deep inside him was driving every movement. He watched the mother for any sign of defense as he gently placed his hand over the child’s still heart. He took a deep breath and let her energy seep into his fingertips.

He felt a wave of emotion as the child’s energy flowed into his veins, but he did not let a single drop be absorbed into his own core. He channeled it through his fingertips, up his arm, across his chest and down to his other hand. With this hand he brought it up to the mother’s own heart and placed it there. He let the child’s memories, it’s love, it’s hopes and fears and everything that made up it’s being flow through him into it’s mother’s core. He could feel how she returned every ounce of that love, and how feeling her child’s energy made it burn so much stronger. When Aiden could no longer feel the flow of emotions coming from the young shinks heart, he retracted his hands and let the tie between them fade.

The mother looked down at her child with such a strong fondness that Aiden couldn’t help but be reminded of his own mother figure, how she must mourn his disappearance. He wondered if Caladium knows what he has become. He wonders if she still considers him a son.

He watched as the mother took a hold of her child’s mask and lifted it from it’s face. There was no glow in the child’s eyes, there was no life beneath it’s skin. She took the mask and held it to her chest, Aiden wondered if it is common practice to keep a shink’s mask after it dies.

He hears the mother whisper something, a chirp that for once, understands completely. He smiles and stands, turning to leave the mother alone with her child. He thinks about these shinks, how this scenario must not be rare when they have been trapped in exile for so long. He thinks of the way others spoke of shinks; As if they were merciless, savage animals with no sense of empathy or morale. Aiden knows this isn’t true. He smiles to himself as he feels the remnant of the love shared between the mother and child. He smiles as he remembers the words the mother gifted him in response to his action. He thinks of the shinks as his home, and repeats them.

Thank you.


End file.
